Small Asteroid to Fly Between Earth and Moon Today

Asteroid 2010 WC9 will make a close approach to Earth today (5/15/18) at 3:04 p.m. PDT (6:04 p.m. EDT, 22:04 UTC). At the time of closest approach, the asteroid will be no closer to Earth's surface than about 120,000 miles (200,000 kilometers). Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech › Larger view

Asteroid 2010 WC9
will make a close approach to Earth today (5/15/18) at 3:04 p.m. PDT (6:04 p.m.
EDT, 22:04 UTC). At the time of closest approach, the asteroid will be no
closer to Earth's surface than about 120,000 miles (200,000 kilometers), which is about
half the distance between Earth and the Moon. 2010 WC9 is about 200 to 400 feet (50 to 120 meters)
across.
The asteroid's velocity at the time of closest approach will be about 29,000
mph (8 miles per second, 12.8 kilometers per second). This flyby is the closest approach
2010 WC9 will make to Earth for at least two centuries.

Asteroid 2010 WC9 was discovered on Nov. 30, 2010, by the
NASA-sponsored Catalina Sky Survey near Tucson, Arizona, and was tracked for about 10 days
before it faded from view. Orbit
calculations in 2010 ruled out any chance that the asteroid could pose a threat
to our planet in 2018, but the distance of this year's close approach could not
be predicted precisely until the asteroid was detected again last week as it
approached our planet once again.